Happy birthday to one of my favorite actors ever — Kamiki Ryunosuke! I decided to write this post as some kind of update for the “stalker guide” that I wrote for MyDramaList nearly two years ago. Anyhow, here it goes.
This is my gateway to his world.
It all started when I decided to watch the Japanese drama series entitled Tantei Gakuen Q. I was watching CLAMP School Detectives then and I was in the mood to watch detective shows, so I decided to . It was enjoyable to see the young characters interacting with one another and investigating things to unravel the truth behind mysteries, but the story is a bit lacking.
Back then, it was Yamada Ryosuke who caught my attention. You’ll probably know him as Edward Elric of the Fullmetal Alchemist live action film. He was young and very adorable at that time, especially because his character is a bit of a problem child (though it can be frustrating now that I think of it). But I did ship Kamiki‘s character there with Shida Mirai‘s. This is how I got to know this actor. After this, I gradually knew and watched his other works until I’m now a huge fan of him.
Who is Kamiki Ryunosuke?
Kamiki, or Ryuu as his close fellow actors call him, is an actor under AMUSE Inc., the very same managing company of BABYMETAL, Perfume, ONE OK ROCK, Dean Fujioka, as well as Ueno Juri (Nodame Cantabile), Sato Takeru (Rurouni Kenshin), and Miura Haruma (Kimi ni Todoke).
Here’s a video of him in a show where they watched two VTRs that came from his grandmother. One is with him dancing adorably while the other has him showing his drawing of his crying mother. And giving kisses and talking so adorably!
He was sickly when he was young and he had a small chance of survival. Her mother wanted proof that he lives so she decided to enter him (at the age of 2!) to the talent agency called Central Group. Great thing he miraculously survived and now he’s a grown man and talented actor.
There was an interview when he said that his mother told him that he can quit if he wants but Kamiki grew to love acting, so he continued it. I can’t find that interview now, though. It’s probably in one of my previous sources of Kamiki’s translated interviews that is now gone. Anyhow, it’s great that he didn’t quit.
Aside from acting, he also loves photography and trains and he draws well, too. He reads a lot of manga as well.
By the way, there’s something amusing about him getting some of the roles he got.
post by moeblobmegane @ Tumblr
Well, I believe Kamiki deserves the roles he gets because he’s passionate and hardworking, not to mention talented. He is able to portray his characters well, though I admit that he’s still got a long way to go, especially when it comes to romance since that’s the least genre he delves in. For now, here are some of his shows and characters.
ANIME MOVIES
He has done a few voice acting jobs. The most recent and probably his most famous role so far is his character as Tachibana Taki of the well-known movie Kimi no Na wa. I believe he did great in it voice acting as Taki and Mitsuha in Taki’s body.
Some of his other characters are Shou (Karigurashi no Arrietty), Markl (Howl’s Moving Castle), Boh (Spirited Away), Koiso Kenji (Summer Wars), and Peter (Mary to Majo no Hana). Yep, obviously, he started voice acting when he was still a little kid. He was only 7 when he did Boh! I think he will continuously get some offers for future anime movies.
In the mean time, here’s a clip of Kamiki and Kamishiraishi Mone doing some scenes for Kimi no Na wa.
MOVIES
Dear Kamiki has been in a lot of movies and there are a lot of notable ones.
His most popular film must probably be Rurouni Kenshin. He isn’t in the first one, but he’s in both Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends. Kamiki is Seta Soujiro, that all-smiles with no emotion minion of Shishio. It still amazes me to think that Kamiki already started studying sword fighting while the first film was still shooting. And it’s really just for his own personal benefit, but it wasn’t in vain because he got casted as Soujiro!
I actually talked about RurouKen and Bakuman in this post of mine. I loved Kamiki’s portrayal of both Soujiro and Shuujin.
Little DJ is also something that I enjoyed. It’s about a sickly boy who dreams of being a DJ. It can be predictable, but it’s still a heartwarming movie and well worth to watch in my opinion. It was fun to watch him and Fukuda Mayuko (The Queen’s Classroom, Mirai Nikki) here! This is also the movie which made me appreciate and love his voice a lot. He’s such a little ball of sunshine here.
In Poison Berry in My Brain, Kamiki plays as Ishibashi, the positive side of the protagonist. The concept of having people in the brain is similar to that of the Disney film Inside Out though the personalities are different. Poison Berry in My Brain’s story is honestly not that appealing to me, but what made it bearable are the characters inside Ichiko’s head. They’re all entertaining to watch!
Meanwhile, in As the Gods Will, Kamiki plays as the psychotic genius trapped in a survival game. His character is named Amaya and Kamiki manages to steal the show as him. Honestly, he’s the main motivation of my finishing that film. I find the story fine, I guess, but the characters other than Amaya are all… unimpressive.
There’s also The Kirishima Thing which is a movie about the effects of the disappearance of the titular character Kirishima. Kamiki is the geeky aspiring filmmaker. He looks so adorable in that role! Especially those scenes of him with Hashimoto Ai (Confessions, Parasyte)! I enjoyed the film also because I thought it was shot and edited in an interesting way, but it’s not for everyone.
His other recent project is the live adaptation of March Comes in Like A Lion. It’s a two-part film and he plays as the protagonist Kiriyama Rei. I talked about the first film here. I enjoyed the second film so much, too, because of his convincing acting as well as the story.
DRAMA SERIES
Kamiki has a lot of drama series under his belt since he’s been acting since 2000. I admit that I’ve yet to watch a lot of his earlier works (Namida Fuite [2000], Mukodono [2001], and Aikurushii [2005] are three of those that I want to watch badly.), but here are some he starred in.
My favorite drama of his is most probably Keizoku 2: SPEC. The story is about two police detectives who are part of the special department which is set up to solve crimes which are difficult to solve. They discover the existence of SPEC, special abilities possessed by some people. Kamiki plays as the antagonist named Ninomae Juuichi. He’s a mix of a cunning, vengeful young man and an adorable, protective kid here. It’s difficult not to like him!
One other show that I enjoyed is 11 Nin mo Iru! which stars Kamiki as Sanada Kazuo, the eldest son of a poor family. It’s a pretty lighthearted drama about how this family gets by. Kamiki’s character is quite an amusing one here because he’s one of the object of humor in the drama.
He also has Gakkou no Kaidan which stars him and the popular young actress Hirose Suzu (Chihayafuru, Your Lie in April). It’s quite formulaic and can be pretty annoying, but I enjoyed it mainly because of his and Suzu’s interactions. Also, Sugisaki Hana and Mamiya Shotaro (and Suga Kenta and Kentaro!) are here, too. The story is about overthrowing the ways of a school using words.
Recently, Kamiki acted with the veteran actor Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, My Man) for Keiji Yugami. They’re a detective duo who are completely opposite in personalities. The senior one is carefree and has the tendency to resort to illegal ways of investigation just to catch the criminal while the junior detective, a fairly serious one, is against his ways. Even with a veteran by his side, Kamiki managed to perform well.
MISC
Kamiki does CM works, too. Like these two:
This one is from Kracie, specifically for their shampoo. There’s a series of videos featuring each of the three Kamiki’s here. (They have their own names.) If I’m understanding it right, they’re the ‘damages’ in the girl(Kawaguchi Haruna)’s hair.
Renta! is a digital manga shop. Here we see Kamiki with Kumiko Aso. It’s cute how there are panels of Sangatsu no Lion shown by the end of the CM!
Kamiki was featured in a MV, too!
Sekai no Owari is a Japanese rock band and this is their recently released single, Sazanka (meaning “Camellia”, as in the flower). The song is about someone speaking to another who is chasing his dream. It’s a beautiful, comforting song. I loved these lines (translation by Yukinekorin):
The music video features Kamiki and Fukase, the band’s lead vocalist, as brothers. The story is a touching tale of how one brother supports the other in his pursuit of dreams. I love the use of food in the story. And it’s amusing how Kamiki plays an artist here, much like Taki on Kimi no Na wa..
CONNECTIONS
Kamiki is from AMUSE Inc., and he’s been acting for years — he’s a senpai even to some people older than him! — so he’s got a lot of connections to other popular actors and actresses. I’ll never get tired of seeing him with other well-known and rising actors, though.
He actually has his own group called Kamiki-gumi (lit. “Kamiki group”). Apparently, they’re composed of 6 people who loves to hang out to shoot short films. Confirmed members are Kamiki (of course), his best friend Shima Takeaki, and Nakagawa Taishi. Other two are most likely Sakurada Dori and Mackenyu.
So here are my favorite people that surround him. Add Sato Takeru, too! Ahh, I badly want to see Takeru, Ryuu, and Haruma Miura in a drama! For a little time three are together for Bloody Monday 2 (Kamiki had a guest role, but he pulled off the intense role).
Ah, it’s also notable that Kamiki graduated from Horikoshi Gakuen, a school for the wealthy and celebrities. It’s the same school where Nagasawa Masami, Yamashita Tomohisa, and Ueto Aya are from.
Now I want to see Kamiki on screen with Shida Mirai again! And Yamada Ryosuke! Oh, and Suga Kenta, too! They are both child actors who got to be on some projects while they were young. And they’re both on Gakkou no Kaidan, but they didn’t really have much onscreen time together.
There’s still much I’d love to see from Kamiki. For one, Kazoku Game is on my top priority of dramas to watch of him. Another is that I haven’t really seen much of Super Handsome Live, an annual year-end thank-you show held by Amuse. I hope he gets to star in a shoujo adaptation, too! Though that’s possibly one of his weaknesses. It’s great that he’s casted in a romance movie Fortuna’s Eyes, but I can’t find it fully satisfying what with the lead actress he got. Anyway, I’ll just hope for the best. Fingers crossed.
Oh, for now, Kamiki’s the only one I can get to be like this. I don’t think I stalk Mackenyu and Kenta as much as I do with Kamiki.
Anyway, fingers crossed to see more of him for the coming years!
Treasure Box 
Great post! I learned a lot from it about his early life.
He’s a good actor and he gives the impression that he’s a lovely person. When I see him in ads, I feel at ease.
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Ahh, I’m glad that it helped you get to know that. He is! Even if in supporting roles, he shines. And I really believe that he’s a lovely person because a lot of personalities like him and he’s got no scandals (if you take away some dating rumors but even those are rare). 😀
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The moment I saw bae’s picture..i clicked it.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR KAMIKI!!
I first discovered him thru Keizoku 2:SPEC years ago, and since them I had been stalki– i mean, following him…by watching his movies and series. I also ship him (hard!!) with Shida Mirai. Did u know that those 2 were rumored to be dating few years ago?? Ohohohoho
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Ahh, he’s such a bae indeed! *heartsss*
Hahaha! I can understand. He did great in that series. KamiShi shipper! They are so adorable together! I hope they’ll get to reunite in a drama/movie again! (WHY DOES HE GET TO REUNITE WITH ARIMURA KASUMI AGAIN AND NOT WITH SHIDA MIRAI??) Yeees. Sadly, it’s just a rumor. Hahaha
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Very informative post. I didn’t realize he was in so much stuff. Speaking of Detective Academy Q, you do know that’s a live action remake of an anime, right?
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